1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for manufacturing fastener assemblies each of which consists of a plurality of fasteners joined together as they are laminated in the direction of the thickness thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A fastener of a synthetic resin shaped in its entirety substantially like the letter "H" is known, which consists of a head section, a bar section, and a filament section by which the head section and bar section are joined together. Such a fastener is used mainly as a connector for attaching a price tag to an article of commerce. The following is a mode in general use of attaching a price tag to an article by means of the above-mentioned fastener. A fastener assembly consisting of a plurality of fasteners joined together is put into an insert port of a tag attacher provided with a needle having a substantially C-shaped cross section. A price tag is then put on the needle while letting the latter to break through the former, and the resulting needle is inserted through an article, such as a clothing item. One piece of fastener is then separated from the fastener assembly, and a bar section thereof is forced into the needle to be moved therethrough. As the bar section of the fastener is moved through the needle, a part of a filament section thereof is passed through the price tag and article. When the bar section has come out of the needle, it is returned to the state owing to the elastic force of the filament section, so that the fastener regains substantially H-shaped configuration. The needle is thereafter drawn out from the article and price tag.
The fastener used as a connector in the above-mentioned manner, which permits simplifying a price tag attaching operation, which has long been carried out with a sewing thread, has attracted public attention and been used in large quantities in price tag attaching operations for ready-made clothes. Under the circumstances, it is strongly demanded that an improvement in the fastener of this kind be provided, which can be handled easily, attached to an article by a tag attacher at a high efficiency and obtained at a low price.
Since a conventional fastener assembly, which consists of a plurality of fasteners joined to a runner or a rod like the teeth of a comb, is manufactured by an injection molding machine, it is difficult to reduce the distance between adjacent fasteners. Unless partition walls are provided among cavities for forming fasteners in a metal mold to be used for molding such a faster assembly as mentioned above, fasteners formed independently of one another cannot be obtained. Accordingly, it is strictly necessary spaces for providing the partition walls be reserved in the mold. Consequently, a fastener assembly, in which the fasteners are spaced from one another by a distance equal to the thickness of a thicker portion of each fastener, i.e. the head or bar section thereof plus the thickness of the partition wall referred to above, is obtained.
In other words, a fastener assembly having too large a distance between adjacent fasteners is naturally produced. This causes the following problems:
(1) Due to the too large distance between the adjacent fasteners, the fasteners are intertwined while the fastener assemblies are transported from a manufacturing company to a user. Such fastener assemblies are difficult to be handled.
(2) Since the overall dimensions of a fastener assembly are limited by those of a metal mold, a fastener assembly having over 50-60 fasteners cannot be molded. This causes the number of operations for inserting fastener assemblies into a tag attacher to be increased, so that a price tag attaching operation cannot be carried out efficiently.
(3) The connecting members are left over after the fasteners have been separated from the fastener assembly during a price tag attaching operation. In other words, this type of fastener assemblies are wasteful of material.
Since the number of fastener assemblies being put to practical use is extremely large, the above problems have proved to be very serious, and it has been desired that solutions to be problems be found as early as possible.